Searching for Equitable, inclusive and caring urban neighbourhoods: measuring children's right to the city through urban design. An urban laboratory in Contumil and Lagarteiro social housing

Abstract

The contemporary urban environment, marked by social, political, and architectural fragmentation, reflects the diverse patterns and levels of involvement among different age and ethnic groups. Public spaces have become fragile environments, disproportionately affecting children and their carers due to socio-spatial inequalities. However, the neighbourhood unit often retains a sense of proximity and co-responsibility, visible in collective actions by diverse communities. Despite the variety of urban planning guidelines available, most public spaces remain unliveable and fail to accommodate minority groups, such as children, older people, immigrants, and women. Children are especially excluded, as their needs are overlooked by policymakers who do not recognise them as active citizens. Historically, children appropriated streets and public spaces for spontaneous play, but today, their activities are often confined to institutionalised settings or playgrounds. Designing public spaces with attention to children's perspectives, considering accessibility, safety, permeability and topography, can create environments accessible to all marginalised groups. Recognising children's natural inclusivity, this approach proposes using their perspective as a reference point to humanise cities, neighbourhoods and public spaces. The research seeks to understand whether children's right to the city can define more inclusive urban programs, starting from exploring co-responsibility in social housing neighbourhoods, considering children as indicators of urban inequality and as determinants of inclusive urban design. Using the participatory action research methodology (PAR), urban diagnostic workshops were implemented in two social housing neighbourhoods, Contumil and Lagarteiro, in Porto, Portugal, with children from 5 to 11 years old, alongside an analysis and methodology application of international programs with shared values from Southern Europe: Albania, Spain and Italy. This approach promotes equitable and caring neighbourhoods, enabling residents to co-create alternatives focused on children in Child-friendly cities | Children's rights | Diagnostic workshops | Participatory action research | Public spaces | Urban studies socially excluded contexts. By considering children as determinants of inclusive urban design, the research explores their potential to guide policies that address socio-spatial inequalities, transforming public spaces into places of empathy and connection. The concept of a child-friendly city emerges as a central theme. By examining smaller urban cells, the neighbourhoods, insights applicable to the broader city context are generated. The methodology of the Urban Laboratory in Porto, the case study of this research, defined as 'learning by playing,' integrates children's habits and dreams into urban diagnostics, with the architect acting as a mediator between children's ideas and the urban fabric. This approach translates children's dreamscapes, an atlas decoding how children move and play in public spaces, into actionable guidelines for policymakers and others committed to a more inclusive vision of city planning. These cartographies reveal children's routines, walking and meeting places, play spaces, and their relationship with the environment. Participatory mapping and storytelling were employed to visualise children's spatial mobility, transcribing their spatial appropriations, fears, and aspirations. Children are thus considered indicators of public space inclusivity, allowing architects and urban planners to interpret spaces and transformations through their needs, fostering universal and inclusive urban planning. The research reframes neighbourliness as a collective manifestation of public space by understanding children's socialisation and everyday lives within the neighbourhood scale. Urban design profoundly impacts children's daily lives, particularly within diverse communities where their right to participate remains unrecognised. Excluded from urban programs and policies due to their lack of economic contribution, children's voices are often absent in city-making processes. However, a child-friendly city, where urban spaces connect with children's needs, requires greater recognition. Decentralised municipalities must act to reshape the built environment, ensuring children's participation goes beyond token gestures. Considering children as public connectors and indicators of urban inequality, the research highlights their ability to foster inclusion. As inherently inclusive beings, children do not perpetuate ethnic segregation. Their involvement can create a more cohesive urban community, challenging stigma through meaningful policies. By integrating children's perspectives, urban design can establish pragmatic responses to improve community life, creating a built environment that embraces cultural diversity and fosters inclusive neighbourhoods.